Okay, let me recap on what has happened so far:
1. I decided to join Zac and Damon on a few -Quests- while Kazuki finished studying for his last day of exams.
2. We encountered a band of royal soldier NPCs during our run, who were seemingly investigating the plague that devastated the [Tested Wilds] until Kazu and I eliminated its source.
3. Just before we logged out, we heard that the same band of soldiers had been attacked by bandits.
4. Arthur and Razul started fighting over brains and brawns (again).
And 5: I let my annoyance overcome my rationality and tried to ambush the bandits without any thought or reason...
Yeah, something told me this was not going to end on a hopeful note.
"How dare he try to sneak attack us like that?!," one of the bandits shouted out in a rage. "He is dead! Dead I tell you!"
I wished I could snark about his grammar, but how could I after I had just accidentally made us new targets for their blood fest?!
"Wind, what the hell did you just do?!"
Well, at least my thoughtless ambush had snapped Arthur and Razul out of their quarrel. But now...
"I'm sorry! But since you two were so distracted with your brains versus brawn debate, I had to act before they can kill the soldiers!" I reasoned to a pissed-off Arthur.
"Yeah, I guess so. But now, you've aggravated them and they're deadset on killing you!"
"Wait, can't you distract those bandits with your skills?" Razul spoke up.
"I could, but those guys are known as [Story Enemies]. Sources say that their AIs are different than those of normal monsters and because of that, they're a bit more difficult to distract from their first attacker. Even if I use my aggro to distract them, that doesn't mean Wind will be safe!"
Now he told me... If those two hadn't fought and forced me to make a reckless move to ambush the bandits, Arthur could've told me that one little important info beforehand...
"In any case, we're here to help out these soldiers one way or another. There's no turning back now. Arthur, you're with me. We'll take them head-on. Razul, you take my role as our long-ranged fighter!"
As I declared this, I saw them draw their weapons as Razul said, "You don't have to tell us twice. Just be careful, Wind."
I silently answered with a nod as Arthur and I headed towards the charging bandits, as Razul followed behind us. I know the flavor text wasn't going to affect their stats or anything, but since they were obsessed with violence, then perhaps we could take advantage of that. But for now, we opted to stick to defense and aggression until then. If we wanted to save those soldiers, we had to play smart.
"Hey, you crazy punks! If you want my friend, you'll have to go through me first!" Arthur shouted as he rushed forward and stopped in-between me and the bandits with his sword in hand. "Now, Wind!"
I knew his reckless defense might not be enough, but it gave me enough time to shoot a few arrows and damage them a bit. With a bow and arrows in hand, I quickly shot 10 arrows at them. Some of the bandits screamed as some of the arrows pierced their legs, arms, and chest, while the others cut down the other arrows with their bladed weapons. I wish I could shoot more, but with our current formation and the bandits aiming at me, I had to rely on my [Wind] magic to push them away.
"Spirit of Sylph, hear my call. Stir the wind all around me. Unleash the storm to push back my foes! [Gale Force]!"
As I swung my arm towards the bandits, I conjured up a gust of wind that was strong enough to push back some of the bandits, allowing Arthur to take care of them while I took care of the others who hadn't been blown away by my spell. By using the "divide and conquer" method, I should be able to take them down with Arthur's help. Thankfully, it only took a few more slashes and another spell to kill about four bandits on my end while Arthur managed to take care of two of them.
"Yeesh, I was hoping for a challenge. I never expected them to go down so easily. Guess that means our [Quest] run really paid off in the end!"
"I wouldn't get too confident if I were you. There's more coming and you have to keep your defenses up!"
"Yeah, yeah. Though the only thing I am not confident about right now is my own defense. You do realize I made this character to have a more offensive build, you know?"
"I know, I know. But we have no choice. Now focus!"
I wished I could scold him more, but he did have a point. With Mari still offline and Kazuki still busy with his studies, we were sitting ducks out here! We needed one more push until...
<<Guys, I'm in position!>>
Razul! I mentally sighed, knowing that he was now ready. But...
<<That's nice, but where were you? You were supposed to join us immediately and help us defeat these bandits!>>
<<I know, but I wanted to try something new right now.>>
New? What was he talking about? Did Arthur know about this? I quickly glared at him after hearing this, but all he could give me is a big sheepish grin.
"You'll see. And if you don't want to get caught in the crossfire, I suggest you back away a few meters."
Crossfire?! Okay, now I was completely stumped. I backed away as soon as one of the bandits swung his knife towards me, but I didn't...
BANG!!!
H-Huh? Was that a gunshot? I tried turning around to see where it came from, but I stopped when the bandit who had tried to attack me fell to the ground. Looking closely, the left temple on his forehead now had a hole with digitized blood seeping through it. I wasn't surprised by this. In fact, I was relieved by it. But the only guns I knew existed in this world were in the hands of a certain [Elf], but he wasn't here at the moment and his weapons didn't...
<<You okay, Wind? Hope my new weapon didn't graze you.>>
A graze? New weapon?
As soon as I put two and two together, I realized what is happening.
<<Wait... Don't tell me...>>
Just then, I received a notification that I'd got an e-mail from Razul. When I opened it, I quickly frowned when I saw a digital photo of him wielding some kind of sniper rifle that seemed to be made out of stone, metal, and gems.
<<Seriously... First, a pistol, now a sniper rifle?! Just what kind of virtual world did these developers and designers come up with?! I thought this was another one of those medieval fantasy worlds that Kazuki and I knew from books, tabletop RPGs, and movies!>>
<<Yeah, I was surprised that this existed along with that magic gun in my possession,>> Razul explained through voice chat. <<While it is a bit weaker than the [Mana Pistol], it can shoot at a long-range just like a real sniper rifle would.>>
I see. As I could recall, the sniper rifle had higher accuracy and range than a normal composite bow. Considering my current situation right now, I realized this could've been a game-changer.
<<I'm still reeling from all of this new info. But keep using that rifle. We're almost done here anyway.>>
Once I said this, Arthur and I continued to fight the bandits, while Razul continued to fire more shots while hidden away from the battlefield.
----
Eventually, a few minutes later, we had killed all but two bandits, both of whom we tied up to capture them, while Razul arrived to help out the injured soldiers. As much as we wanted to eliminate all of the bandits, I knew that killing the last two wouldn't solve any problems and it could leave a bad aftertaste if we did. For now, all we could do was to leave them to the authorities.
"There. That should put them in their place," Arthur said as he dusted his hands after tying them up with a sturdy rope that the soldiers had provided us with, along with some shackles that I used to cuff their hands. "How are the soldiers, Razul?"
I turned towards the said [Elf] as he approached us with a grim look on his face.
"They're okay. No casualties and most of them have been bandaged and healed with your brother's handmade [HP Potions]," he said. "To be honest, if it wasn't for Wind's reckless attempt to stop us from fighting and save them at the same time, the bandits would have killed them all before we could act."
"Hardy-har-har," I snarked. I was a bit annoyed that they seem to forget that they are responsible for making me commit that reckless act in the first place. "In any case, at least this situation is resolved for now."
But for some reason, Razul frowned in response as he stared at us in a distressed manner.
"Not exactly. According to the soldiers, their commander and their "lady" are in the forest right now dealing with more of those criminals. Not only that, but some of them might also be with the leader of their band."
Leader?! If what he was saying was true, then I had a feeling that this incident isn't over yet.
"Ooh, "lady"?! As in a princess became a damsel-in-distress?!"
I quickly smacked Arthur's head and frowned at his ignorance of the situation. Thankfully, he quickly got the message.
"I-I mean, if that's true, then there is a chance they won't survive their encounter! And if an [NPC] is killed..."
He grew silent, becoming hesitant to finish his sentence. I quickly figured out what he meant though.
"We shouldn't dilly-dally for long. Let's get in there and save everyone!"
Without any objections from my friends, we quickly turned our gazes to the <Tested Wilds> entrance. But before we could enter, a hand stops us from going in, which was revealed to be one of the soldiers that I had seen with the commander before.
[Hang on, are you going to save our lady and the commander all by yourselves? You're dealing with some of the ruthless criminals of the kingdom! Facing him without any preparation will mean death for all of you.]
Ruthless criminals? Yeah, we could leave and try to gain more levels, but letting innocents die without attempting to save them would mean the true end of their lives.
"I understand your concerns, but if we wait for reinforcements, it will likely mean the death of your lady and your commander. Just trust us. My friends and I know what we're doing."
That and a bit of guardian help would work too if he approved of what we were going to do next.
[I-I understand. But please be careful. The kingdom won't able to function without her guidance and his leadership.]
"Don't worry! Wind, Razul, and I got this. We've already been with crazy places before, so this was no different to us."
If he meant killing a wild bear and a physical manifestation of a plague, then I had to agree with him, on that.
"Just trust us. We'll stop that mad man before he can do anything bad to them," Razul calmly said as I silently nodded in agreement.
[All right. Be careful, adventurers.]
As the soldier left, a new window display popped in front of me.
[Special Quest: The Ruthless Bane! ***
An infamous ruthless bandit leader has ambushed an important woman and a commander of a well-known army! You must stop him and his cohorts before they can kill them and their escorting army in the <Tested Wilds>!
Recommended Party: 3]
So this was what Arthur and Razul meant. If we interacted with the NPCs in an unexpected way such as interrupting a bandit ambush, we could get more [Special Quests] like this one. Regardless, there is no time to waste as we quickly head inside the forest.
----
Once we were inside, the first thing we did was run through the woods, with Arthur and Razul in front of me. As we did, I decided to try one of the new passive skills I'd picked up during one of my hunting runs with Kazu. By blinking a few times, my vision turned gray and everything around me start to zoom in like a camera lens. This was a skill called [Owl Vision]. With this [Archery] passive skill, not only could I accurately aim at my targets from a distance, but I could use it as a pseudo-telescope to find many people that my [Hunting] skills couldn't locate find yet. It's was still a bit weak since it's a Level 12 skill, but it should help see about five feet away from where I was and since I was always on the move, I might able to see where the commander and "lady" were.
Eventually, I quickly spotted a silhouette of an older man and a young adult woman being surrounded by three men wielding a cleaver, dagger, and a hand ax respectively. Below them were several soldiers we saw earlier with some of them trying to limp away from the men. From this scene alone, I felt tempted to shoot my arrow towards them in my anger. But remembering what happened earlier, I resisted as I turned towards my friends.
"They're deep in the forest. Most of the soldiers are injured, and the commander and a young woman are surrounded by three men," I alerted them.
"Please tell me that those men aren't armed," Arthur groaned.
"Well, one has an ax and he's a bit burly."
"Yeesh. And I thought the bandits from outside were weird," Razul remarked. "Still, we have to hurry!"
He didn't have to say it twice. I didn't use any [Wind] spells to boost my speed to save my [MP], but I ran as fast as I could to catch up with them. After a while, we made it to the area. But when we did, it was the same scene from before. To my horror, a man with a scarred eye and a black bandanna over his black short hair was about to swing his cleaver at the commander as he held the scared woman holding a staff in his arms, with his back turned away from the scarred man.
Were we too late?
----
Wind's Masteries
[Archery] Level 17
[Woodcrafting] Level 7
[Swordsmanship] Level 16
[Cooking] Level 6
[Wind] Level 14
[Physical Enhancement] Level 14
[Hunting] Level 14